Southern Lemon Icebox Pie, Gluten Free

Instructions

1. 1

   Heat the oven and mix the crust

   Set a rack in the middle of the oven and heat it to 350°F. Grind the gluten-free crackers to fine, even crumbs — any coarse shards left behind become weak spots in the crust. Stir the crumbs with the granulated sugar and salt, then pour over the melted butter and mix until uniformly damp. The extra tablespoon of butter here is deliberate: rice- and sorghum-based crackers absorb more fat and need it to hold together.

2. 2

   Press, chill, and bake the shell

   Tip the crumbs into a 9-inch pie plate, pressing up the sides first and then packing the base flat with the bottom of a measuring cup. Press harder than feels necessary. Chill the shell in the freezer for 10 minutes so the butter firms up — this keeps gluten-free crumbs from slumping down the sides in the oven. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until fragrant and set at the edges, then rest it on a rack while you make the filling.

3. 3

   Whisk the filling

   Whisk the egg yolks with the lemon zest for about a minute, until pale and loose. Whisk in the condensed milk and salt until smooth, then stream in the lemon juice, whisking constantly. You will feel the mixture thicken under the whisk within a minute or two — that is the acid setting the yolks and milk, exactly as it should.

4. 4

   Fill and bake

   Pour the filling into the warm crust and smooth the top. Bake 15 to 18 minutes, until the outer inch is set and the center still jiggles softly as a whole when you nudge the pan. Take it out before the top puffs or cracks.

5. 5

   Cool, then chill

   Cool on a wire rack about an hour, then cover loosely and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. The long chill matters even more with this crust — the starches firm up as they cool, and a cold gluten-free crumb crust slices far more cleanly than a barely chilled one.

6. 6

   Whip the cream

   Just before serving, beat the cold cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla to soft peaks that hold their shape but still look glossy. Stop there; overbeaten cream turns grainy quickly.

7. 7

   Top and slice

   Spread the whipped cream over the chilled pie and serve cold. Cut with a thin knife warmed under hot water and wiped dry between slices, and lift each piece with a wide server — gluten-free crumb crusts are a little more fragile at the edges.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Zest your lemons before juicing them — it is miserable the other way around. Three medium lemons usually give you both the zest and the 1/2 cup of juice you need.

• 2.

  Use fresh juice, not bottled. Side-by-side the bottled version tastes dull and slightly metallic, and this pie has nowhere to hide it.

• 3.

  Save the leftover whites for meringue, or swap the whipped cream for a meringue topping browned in a 400°F oven for 5 to 7 minutes.

• 4.

  If your filling looks thin going into the crust, you likely added the juice too fast. Whisk another 30 seconds and give it a minute to thicken before baking.

• 5.

  Pouring the filling into a still-warm crust helps the two set together, which means cleaner slices.

• 6.

  For a tidy first slice, run a knife under hot water and dry it before each cut.